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Uploaded by Katarina Bobalova on 2014-04-22.

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Χριστός ανέστη εκ νεκρών, θανάτω θάνατον πατήσας, και τοις εν τοις μνήμασι ζωήν χαρισάμενο! Хрїстoсъ воскрeсе iзъ мeртвыхъ, Смeртїю смeрть попрaвъ, И сouщымъ во гробѣ́хъ живoтъ Даровaвъ! Kristus slávne vstal z mŕtvych, smrťou smrť premohol a tým, čo sú v hroboch život daroval!

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It's that time of the year again when Easter eggs and bunnies invade all the stores and adverts, we eat too many cakes and enjoy a long weekend. While in some parts of the world Easter is celebrated through having unusual meals or even playing special Easter sports, the first thing that comes to a Slovak's person mind after hearing „Easter" is „water and spanking." What do we mean? Read on and make sure you watch the attached video to get the full picture :)

THE TRADITION

When it comes to Easter in Slovakia, it's the ladies that need to watch their backs. Why? Because the tradition goes that young guys shall visit every house in the village where they have single girls, they sprinkle them with water and spank them with whips made of willow branches. Please note that „sprinkle" is a mild word here. Sometimes the guys come with water buckets :)

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This treatment is always held on Easter Monday and is believed to bring health and beauty to the females. The more guys visit the girls' homes, the prouder the girls should be - well, women and girls may think differently :) In many regions and bigger cities, water buckets have been replaced with perfumes, a cup of water or a water pistol. However, in some villages you may still see young men, sometimes dressed in traditional folk costumes, who come with rattles and braided whips decorated with colorful ribbons. They take females out of the houses and douse them with buckets filled with cold water. The girls can even end up in a stream, if they live close to one. During this tradition men may sing songs and play the accordion:

The funny part is that guys get rewarded for this action and in return, they receive painted eggs, sweets, money and are invited to dine with the girl's family. From certain age, the guys are poured a glass (or more) of local spirits as well :) When you live in a village, it is not surprising to see tipsy men on Easter Monday walking from house to house. How lucky the Slovak girls are, right? :D It can be fun when you are a kid (girl).

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But once you get a little bit older (and smarter), you might realize this is not the most enjoyable way of spending your holidays :)

EASTER MENU

Easter preparations begin days before Easter. To be ready for the feast, people bake pastries, cookies and do extensive grocery shopping. Easter menu is always festive: potato salad with mayonnaise, cooked ham, cold cuts and sandwiches are served on Easter Sunday as well as on Easter Monday. Sweet treats and some good (home made) alcohol can't be missing on the table either.

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YOUR EASTER VOCABULARY

If you grab a newspaper, watch TV or just regularly walk outside in the Easter time, you might want to check the meaning of the following words connected to this holiday - as they are probably going to appear everywhere :)

Veľká noc - Easter

oblievačka - pouring water over girls

šibačka - spanking girls by whips

kupač - the boy who comes to water the girls during Easter

korbáč - the whip made of willow branches

kraslica - a painted, dyed or otherwise decorated blown egg

zemiakový šalát - potato salad

While many traditions have died out, Easter Monday's water and spanking have remained a colorful memory of Slovak folk life. This great Christian holiday has its own magic but can be a night mare for some girls as well - that's why sometimes they leave their homes for that weekend and spend it somewhere with a little less water. Who would blame them, right? :)

BOOK YOUR TRIP NOW!

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TRADITIONAL EASTER IN SLOVAKIA - WelcomeToBratislava

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It's that time of the year again when Easter eggs and bunnies invade all the stores and adverts, we eat too many cakes and enjoy a long weekend. While in some parts of the world Easter is celebrated through having unusual meals or even playing special Easter sports, the first thing that comes to a Slovak's person mind after hearing „Easter" is „water and spanking."

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Uploaded by Katarina Bobalova on 2014-04-22.

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Fertile traditions: Slovak Easter egg art

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Fertile traditions: Slovak Easter egg art

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EASTER is one of the few Christian holidays that does not have a fixed date on the Julian calendar. It obeys the lunar calendar, falling on the first Sunday after the full moon, keeping time with the rhythm of nature and pre-Christian traditions.

In the same way, one of the most time-hallowed Easter traditions - decorated eggs - derives from prehistoric rites rather than Christian teaching.
"The egg is a symbol of the circle of life, of its infinity and immortality," says ethnologist Viera Feglová. "Colours are symbolic as well. They express spring and youth. Anthropologists have discovered that some colours, such as violet, are even genetically 'codified' as 'good'."

With Slovak Easter fast approaching, decorated eggs can be bought in shops and market places all over the country. Large collections of colourfully designed eggs may be seen at many exhibitions, and decorating techniques are explained at open workshops.

Apart from being a symbol of Easter, the humble egg has gained other meanings over the centuries. "It was used in magic. Its shape represented perfection and proportionality. Very frequently it was used as a means of exchange in trade. It was an important symbol of sacrifice especially during the spring, when pieces of shell were put in furrows where cabbages were grown to ensure a bountiful crop," says Feglová.

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Easter is the most significant Christian holiday. Because it is a moveable holiday, its date changes every year. Christians begin Easter celebration on Holy Thursday. Good Friday is a state holiday in Slovakia. While many people usually do not go to work, stores and supermarkets are usually open. On Good Friday, the day of abstinence, Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ. Then on Easter Sunday then celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; however, not only Christians celebrate Easter. Easter preparations begin days before Easter. To be ready for the feast, people bake pastries, cookies, and do extensive grocery shopping. Easter dinner menu is always festive: potato salad with mayonnaise, cooked ham, cold cuts, and sandwiches are served on Easter Sunday as well as on Easter Monday.  Cookies and pastries cannot be excluded from the Easter menu.

“Oblievacka” (water pouring) is a typical Easter Monday custom in Slovakia. The character of oblievacka slightly varies from region to region. On this day men visit their female relatives and friends and pour water on them or spray them with perfume, and whip them gently with special whips made of braided willow rods. According to tradition, pouring water on women will guarantee their beauty and good health throughout the year. Recently oblievacka and sibacka (whipping) have not been as intense as they used to be in the past decades. In many regions, water buckets have been replaced with perfumes, a small syringe filled with water, a water cup, or a water pistol. However, in some villages you may still see young men, sometimes riding on the horses or dressed in traditional folk costumes, who come with rattles and braided whips decorated with colorful ribbons. They may take females out of the houses and douse them with a bucket or buckets filled with cold water. During this tradition men may sing songs and play the accordion. After oblievacka and sibacka, women reward men with sweets, fruit, money, or painted Easter eggs. Easter eggs or kraslice are quite popular in Slovak tradition. Kraslice are painted, dyed, or otherwise decorated blown eggs. Many decorate kraslice at home or buy them at market or at the craft store. While it is not required to give Easter eggs to visiting males on Easter Monday, only a few men will leave the house without a drink or small refreshment.

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Whips and water: Easter in Slovakia
"Women hate Easter, men love it," says one Slovak ethnographer.
Easter morning was always stressful for a Slovak girl. Her father woke her at 6:00 a.m. by pouring cold water on her face, and for the next six hours, young men would come to her flat or house, drag her outside, douse her with buckets of water and whip her with wicker sticks.

Tradition compelled her to give the boys dyed hard-boiled eggs and tie a ribbon around their whips. Her father rewarded the boys with money and a shot of alcohol.

The girl's ordeal is shared by Slovak women in villages and small cities across the country on Easter Monday - the focus of Slovakia's Easter season. Bands of young men and boys set out to win chocolate and money by whipping and pouring water on young Slovak women. The customs, once believed to purify the soul and body, are the remnants of a complex system of Slovak folk traditions based around the seasons of the year.

"Women hate Easter, men love it," said ethnographer Zuzana Beňušková. "But on the other hand, women brag the following day about the number of visits they had."

The water-throwing and whipping became linked to the Easter holiday after Christianity came to Slovakia in the ninth century. But the traditions originated as part of folk beliefs based on nature's cycle.

Mid-April was celebrated as a time of rebirth: processions were used to drive away evil spirits, houses were decorated with vegetation (the egg survives today as a symbol of life), and whipping and water were employed to ensure a young woman's fertility and beauty. It was believed that the vitality from the young twigs entwined in the whip would flow into the woman's body.

While many traditions have died out, Easter Monday's water and whipping have remained a colourful relic of Slovak folk life.

According to the ethnographer, the days leading up to the date are now seen as Christian by Slovaks. But Monday continues to be a day of folk traditions. Even the Slovak name for the holiday – „Veľká noc“ or Big Night - seems secular.

There have been some changes. Whipping and dousing were performed in most parts of Slovakia up to the 1950s, but the advent of Communism, which discouraged religious rituals, Christian or folk, and forced the migration of Slovaks from villages to cities, led to their gradual demise, at least in their purest form.

In Slovakia's biggest cities, symbolic reference to the customs - spraying scented water from a small flask - is more common than full-out drenchings and lashings; even in villages and smaller cities, things are not what they used to be.

It is said that men used to throw women in the river that flows through town. They no longer do that. But they still douse them with water.

Yet the traditions seem to carry a certain charm, even for Slovak women, that may guarantee their continuation.